Mission to (dit)Mars is thrilled to continue the Launch Pad reading series with FIDDLERS, a new play by Lisa Huberman and directed by Aimee Todoroff. This free reading will be performed on Monday, February 4th at 7pm at The Broom Tree Theatre located at 23-35 Broadway in Astoria, NY.

Lisa Huberman (photo credit: Jody Christopherson)

FIDDLERS is about Ava, a left-wing anti-Occupation activist who thinks she has a clear sense of her identity as a secular American Jew. But when she brings her non-Jewish boyfriend home at the anniversary of her mother’s death, she is forced to confront her own biases, insecurities, and inherited traumas.

On why she wrote Fiddlers, playwright Lisa Huberman explains “Fiddlers is a way for me to work through my own complicated feelings about Israel, which is especially challenging with the rise of anti-semitism over the last few years. Regardless of political affiliation, most Jews I know are living in this constant state of trauma over how to best keep our communities safe, and I want to give voice to those anxieties.“

On what she hopes the audience will take away from Fiddlers, Lisa offers “I think if my plays fit into a genre it’s “awkward intersectionality”: people who attempt to connect over cultural differences, but find it incredibly hard and end up screwing up a lot. I hope my play will help encourage people to lean into their own discomfort a bit more when confronting their own blind-spots and biases.”

Directions: Take the N/W to 36th ave or 30th ave (Broadway station is currently closed).

About the Launch Pad Reading Series

The Launch Pad is a free reading series of new plays by Queens playwrights. The mission objective of The Launch Pad is to serve as a testing ground for Queens based playwrights who need to hear their plays out loud. Because Mission to (dit)Mars was co-founded by playwrights and directors, we understand implicitly how to answer those needs. Through this program, the utmost care is taken to foster a safe and productive environment in order to propel the play forward.

Mission to (dit)Mars is thrilled to continue the Launch Pad reading series with WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE THIS, a new play by Jonathan Alexandratos and directed by Jessica Bashline. This free reading will be performed on Monday, November 19th at 7pm at The Broom Tree Theatre located at 23-35 Broadway in Astoria, NY.

In WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE THIS, O must flee her home country, Albania. To do it, she’ll need the help of one asshole, one dead rabbit, three rando strangers, and one magical strawberry implanted in her brain. This exciting new play asks what is home when home goes away?

“This is basically the story of my mom’s parents and their cousins who fled Albania for Greece, and then Greece for the U.S.” explains Jonathan. “It’s not a happy story. It’s one that involves abuse, refugees, smuggling people, poverty, loss, war, and discrimination. Yet, it also involves me, and everything I’m able to do now, which I’m pretty happy about.“

The play was commissioned through a New Works Grant awarded by Queens Council on the Arts to create new work that speaks to the Queens community.

“I’m very lucky to have Mission to (dit)Mars co-supporting me with the QCA for this Launchpad Reading on November 19th. When I proposed this play to the QCA, I described a piece that is at once Albanian, Greek, American, and, of course, Queens.” adds Jonathan. “In Queens, and all across New York City, really, there is a massive population of Greeks and Albanians who arrived here, in many cases, because their homes were destroyed by war.”

The evening is presented by Mission to (dit)Mars co-founders Kari Bentley-Quinn, Don Nguyen, Meredith Packer, and Laura Pestronk. It is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The Launch Pad is a free reading series of new plays by Queens playwrights. The mission objective of The Launch Pad is to serve as a testing ground for Queens based playwrights who need to hear their plays out loud. Because Mission to (dit)Mars was co-founded by playwrights and directors, we understand implicitly how to answer those needs. Through this program, the utmost care is taken to foster a safe and productive environment in order to propel the play forward.

This reading is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Mission to (dit)Mars is excited to announce the selection of four new members to the 2018-2020 Propulsion Lab, a Queens based writers group serving emerging playwrights from the borough. In addition to the new lab members, one returning member has been named a Writer in Residence and three have been named Orbiting Artists.

For the Propulsion Lab, each playwright will focus on writing a new full-length play over the course of the year. The new members were selected by Mission to (dit)Mars co-founders Kari Bentley-Quinn, Don Nguyen, Meredith Packer and Laura Pestronk. The writers group meets bi-monthly in Queens.

In addition to the new lab members, Mission to (dit)Mars has named Jonathan Alexandratos (Astoria) as one of our Writers in Residence and Kristine M. Reyes (Astoria), Nat Cassidy (Astoria), and Tyler Rivenbark (Sunnyside) as Orbiting Artists.

On what excites her about the new members, Meredith Packer says “As we enter into year six and welcome four new writers I am most excited to see the new energy and fresh ideas they bring into the room with our established writers.”

Kari Bentley-Quinn adds “We are confident that they will be assets to the ever-growing Mission to (dit)Mars family, and will add new perspectives to our diverse and thriving Lab.”

“We’re so happy to welcome such a passionate, open, and kind group of people. The new playwrights amazed us with their unique voices and their varied stories, both on and off the page” says Laura Pestronk.

The Propulsion Lab was created to meet the needs of like-minded theater artists who wanted to have a way of developing new work locally in Queens on an on-going basis. In addition to bi-monthly meetings, the lab will include industry meet and greets with Artistic Directors and Literary Managers, three Launch Pad readings of full length plays, and All Systems Go! 7, an evening of excerpts from the new Propulsion Lab plays.

Writers in Residence positions are a way to address the growing needs of certain lab members who have been with us for some time by offering additional developmental support custom tailored to them. In exchange, our resident playwrights act as artistic associates on Mission to (dit)Mars’ behalf and help our organization in certain capacities, such as reading script submissions.

Orbiting Artists are informal positions that allow current lab members whose availability has changed due to unforeseen reasons the chance to continue participating in the Propulsion Lab on a limited basis.

BIOS OF THE NEW PROPULSION LAB MEMBERS

Megan BussiereAstoria

Born and raised in Edison, NJ, Megan started performing and writing from a young age. She attended Kean University, where she minored in theatre and received her MA in Speech Pathology. After college she traveled the world performing in Japan, Hawaii, China, and the Eastern Caribbean. She now resides in Astoria and currently works as a private accent reduction coach with AccentsOff in midtown Manhattan. Her play Talk to Me has had two professional staged readings and was named a finalist for the 2016 Bauer-Boucher Playwriting Award through Premiere Stages. She is dedicated to writing new works centered around communication, in hopes of starting difficult, weird, and fun conversations.

Tim ErricksonLong Island City

Tim is a playwright and stage director based in New York City. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of Boomerang Theatre Company, an award-winning nonprofit theater. His play Endless Summer Nights premiered with Boomerang, and was a “Pick of the Week” by nytheatre.com. His play The Firebird premiered at the 2015 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, receiving 5 PC Award nominations. His other plays include The Messy Antigone Play, MEGA, Lies and Romance and Warm Roses. Tim has previously developed projects with John Pielmeier, Bill C. Davis and Mike Folie, including the treatment for the feature film script “Places”. Tim studied at Hofstra University’s New College, The University of London, and Circle Rep. He served on the Honorary Awards Committee for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards from 2005-2015, and was the co-president of the Off-Off Broadway Community Dish, a service organization for the Off-Off/Indie Theatre Community, from 2004-2013.

Christopher Moncayo-TorresWoodside

Christopher Moncayo-Torres is an Ecuadorian-American playwright and live storyteller, born & bred in Queens, NY. He first practiced creative writing at John Jay College of Criminal Justice while pretending to study for his forensic psychology degree. He is an alumnus of Playwrights Horizons’ Perspectives on Playwriting Core Workshop. He wrote the short play “We Come Here” (Astoria Performing Arts Center / 2016 New York Innovative Theater Award for Original Short Script nomination), full-length play “Hablas y Te Salvas” (Staged reading: Astoria Performing Arts Center, 2017) and co-wrote the hip-hopera “A Sunnyside Mixtape” (Working Title Theater, 2016) which was performed under the 7 train in Sunnyside, Queens. His work has been read at InViolet Theater’s “Second Monday Social” and INTAR Theatre’s Steep Salon. He also volunteers as a dramaturg and playwright for 52nd Street Project. He is the co-founder and Managing Director of the developmental collective, Fail Better NYC.

Sasha SharovaAstoria

Sasha Sharova is a playwright and artistic administrator based in Astoria. Her plays include The Great Russian Expedition, (developed at Gallatin Summer Theatre Lab, The Lark Apprentice Roundtable and Fail Better Reading Series), and Rabbit Hunt, (developed at Fail Better). A bi-lingual writer and a native of Russia, Sasha has served as an interpreter for The Lark’s Russia-US Play Exchange Program and as a translator and dialect coach for ABC’s Quantico. Sasha studied at NYU Gallatin under Kristoffer Diaz and Kristin Horton (BA 2016). Sasha has a passion for shinning the light on female characters and exploring their complexities, as well as exploring cross-cultural relationships. As an artistic administrator, she has focused her work on new play development and making theater accessible across the country by working with companies like The Lark, The Playwrights Realm, and Dramatists Play Service.

The Noguchi Museum is one of the most magical places in Queens. The space, designed by the late Japanese-American sculpture artist Isamu Noguchi, includes an open-air sculpture garden and several galleries, each with its own feel and family of Noguchi sculptures. The works of art and the spaces in the museum are complex, mysterious, and playful. In short: this is an amazing place to spend a day creating.

The workshop will begin with a meditation practice to open up the senses, and will continue with a silent walking meditation around the galleries of the museum, followed by writing prompts and discussion to get the ideas flowing. Participants will then have time to explore the museum independently and write, draw, or do other creative work. The workshop will conclude with a sharing circle where participants can share their work from the day with the group.
Writers, artists, musicians, and creatives of any kind are welcome to attend. No experience with meditation necessary. Please bring your own writing and/or art materials.

This workshop is being sponsored by Mission to (dit)Mars, an Astoria-based theatre collective, and Mindful Astoria, an Astoria-based meditation group.

Instructor:
Emily Herzlin is a writer and teacher with a particular love for memoir and poetry. She received her MFA in Nonfiction from Columbia in 2012. She began practicing meditation in 2003. In college she found her way to the Interdependence Project, where she now teaches meditation courses and retreats. She is a Certified MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) Teacher, and trained in MBSR at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She has been teaching meditation since 2011 to groups and individuals. She works as a Mind-Body Therapist at Weill Cornell Medicine, and formerly at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She also completed a yearlong meditation teacher training program at the Interdependence Project. She is also a graduate of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program. Emily is the founder and guiding teacher of Mindful Astoria, a meditation community in Astoria, Queens.

Mission to (dit)Mars is thrilled to announce All Systems Go: 6 as the culminating event for the LAUNCH PAD Reading Series this year. This free play reading will be held at the Astoria Performing Arts Center at 30-34 Crescent Street in Astoria, Queens on Monday, June 18th at 7pm.

ALL SYSTEMS GO: 6 is an evening of excerpts from ten brand new plays by the Queens based writers group The Propulsion Lab. The evening is presented by Mission to (dit)Mars co-founders Kari Bentley-Quinn, Don Nguyen, Meredith Packer, and Laura Pestronk. It is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

“Our writers have adeptly responded to the social and political issues happening right now with a diverse and stirring array of plays that examine so many aspects of our world today: sexuality, loneliness, race, class, religion and, above all, the importance of human connection.” said co-founder Kari Bentley-Quinn

Laura Pestronk adds “This year’s Propulsion Lab dives headfirst into the deep end, grappling with strong, scary subjects with grace and fearlessness and even hilarity. I’m proud of what is looking to be our no holds barred boldest All Systems Go yet!”

“I can’t believe we are at All Systems Go! year six. This is by far the most diverse and exciting grouping of excerpts we have been given to present and I am so excited to share it with our theater community here in Queens.” said co-founder Meredith Packer

All Systems Go: 6 will include excerpts from the following ten new plays:

THE TWIRLY POP EXPRESS by Jonathan AlexandratosA father and son rebuild old animatronic animals from The Twirly Pop Express, the robotic band from a now-defunct kids’ party arcade. When the robo-animals come to life, they expose the true heart of the father and son’s relationship.

21ST CENTURY HISTOTRAGMEDY: A BERNIE CAROLby Scott CasperA look at the history, tragedy, comedy of the century thus far. In this act, Bernie Madoff is visited by three spirits, guiding us all to a possible redemption we may not deserve.

FOUNDATIONS by Nat CassidyA construction crew waits out a sudden rainstorm and, as they exchange stories, they begin to realize that the apartment complex they’re building might actually be haunted.

FIDDLERS by Lisa HubermanAs a left-wing anti-Occupation activist, Ava thought she had a clear sense of her identity as a secular American Jew. But when she brings her non-Jewish boyfriend home at the anniversary of her mother’s death, she is forced to confront her own biases, insecurities, and inherited traumas.

B-A-B-Y by Mrinalini KamathManika, a former spelling bee participant, now all grown-up and a pediatrician, goes about having a child in an unconventional way.

THE DIVER by Kari Bentley-QuinnThirty years from now, New York City is hit by a massive tsunami that has changed the landscape and the citizens of the city forever. Amena Fakhoury, one of the last Syrian refugees living in the United States, has been scuba diving to find the lost items of the people who were taken in the wave, and for any evidence of the people she lost. In the meantime, the Muslim community she lives in is being oppressed, jailed and monitored by a privatized police force.

DEDICATED TO YOU (LOVE, RYAN WOO) by Kristine M. ReyesRyan has been secretly writing love songs for his long-time crush, Xian, who’s got the hots for Tristan, the new kid in school. In this adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, Ryan is Asian, Tristan is white…and Ryan doesn’t stand a chance.

ALL THE PLACES BETWEEN MOONRISE AND MOONSET by Tyler RivenbarkWitness is a poor, mostly ignored, teenager in a small rural Southern town called Warsaw. This is what he’s seen.

LIKE FATHER by Jason TsengA queer contemporary adaptation of Oedipus Rex. Joe asks his old friend Tyrese to help him run the bed and breakfast he and his late husband recently acquired. Eddie arrives with a secret past that threatens to disrupt Joe’s delicate present.

PURE LOVE by Ray YamanouchiFour people of color navigate romance and desire.

Directions: Take the N/Q to 30th Avenue. Walk down 30th Ave toward the Trade Fair Supermarket, continue past Mt. Sinai Hospital of Queens. Turn left on Crescent Street, then right on 30th Rd. The entrance is the second set of red doors on your left.

About the Launch Pad Reading Series

The Launch Pad is a free reading series of new plays by Queens playwrights. The mission objective of The Launch Pad is to serve as a testing ground for Queens based playwrights who need to hear their plays out loud. Because Mission to (dit)Mars was co-founded by playwrights and directors, we understand implicitly how to answer those needs. Through this program, the utmost care is taken to foster a safe and productive environment in order to propel the play forward.

This reading is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

CALLING ALL PLAYWRIGHTS!

Apply to the 2018-2020 Propulsion Lab!

The Application process is now open closed.

Applications are now open for the 2018-2020 Propulsion Lab. The Propulsion Lab is a bi-monthly (every other Monday) writers group for Queens-based playwrights.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Please submit one full length play (60 pages or more) in PDF format. This should be a blind copy – your name should not appear on any pages in the script. Please choose the play you think represents you best as a writer. It doesn’t matter if it has been produced or if it is a first draft.

Please submit a brief cover letter using our online form. You will be asked to supply the following information: Name, Neighborhood/Address, Phone/Email/Website/Twitter (if applicable), Productions/Awards you would like us to know about, how you heard about the lab, and also what you hope to gain from being a part of the Lab. This is not an artist statement so PLEASE don’t be formal, we just want to get to know you!

You must currently reside in the borough of Queens (any neighborhood), and have been a resident for at least 6 months. In order to be part of the lab, you must live in Queens during the course of the lab. Please make sure you have no immediate plans to relocate if you apply!

Willing and able to attend bi-monthly meetings. Labs are held every other Monday usually from late August to mid-June. Regular attendance is very important to the continuity of the work and to support your fellow writers.

Must commit to working on one full length play during the course of the lab.

The deadline to apply is June 30th 11:59pm EST! The deadline has now passed.

Participants will be notified at the end of August with labs beginning in September.

Mission to (dit)Mars is thrilled to continue the Launch Pad reading series with FOUNDATIONS, a new play by Nat Cassidy. This free reading will be performed on Monday, April 16th at 7pm at The Broom Tree Theatre located at 23-35 Broadway in Astoria, NY.

Entering the world of FOUNDATIONS you’ll find there’s a new apartment complex being built in your neighborhood: Melody Gardens, offering luxury living at affordable prices. But one day, as they wait for a rainstorm to pass, the construction crew of Melody Gardens begins trading stories about the dreams they’ve been having lately, and they realize: stories are like buildings. We design them. We live in them. And sometimes, they turn out to be haunted. Foundations is directed by Jordana Williams.

On why this eerie script was selected, co-founder Meredith Packer explains “In this play, Nat asks us to take a dark and terrifying look at something as mundane as the apartments we live in. And he makes them thrilling, thought-provoking, and nightmare-inducing.”

“Nat has brilliantly conquered the horror genre, and his plays usually keep me up all night with one eye open.” explains Laura Pestronk. “The extremely exciting and fearful FOUNDATIONS is no exception, and it had me checking my apartment twice before drifting into a likely nightmare.”

Kari Bentley-Quinn adds “FOUNDATIONS sent more than one shiver down my spine, and proves that Nat is one of the best horror writers for the stage. Not only is this play frightening and unsettling, it features a cast of well drawn characters and edge of your seat suspense.”

This free reading is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The Launch Pad is a free reading series of new plays by Queens playwrights. The mission objective of The Launch Pad is to serve as a testing ground for Queens based playwrights who need to hear their plays out loud. Because Mission to (dit)Mars was co-founded by playwrights and directors, we understand implicitly how to answer those needs. Through this program, the utmost care is taken to foster a safe and productive environment in order to propel the play forward.

This reading is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Mission to (dit)Mars is thrilled to continue the Launch Pad reading series with STUFF, a new radio play by Mrinalini Kamath. This free reading will be performed on Monday, February 5th at 7pm at The Broom Tree Theatre located at 23-35 Broadway in Astoria, NY.

Inspired by the NY Times article “The Lonely Death of George Bell,” STUFF tells the story of lives that intersect when a man dies alone in his cluttered apartment. A radio play about living alone in modern times. STUFF is directed by Colette Robert and live foley provided by Tony Vo.

In describing the play, co-founder Laura Pestronk said “In STUFF, Mrinalini gets us down and dirty into the sometimes darkly comic, sometimes deeply melancholy world of hoarders. From the outside we may simply scoff at the piles of ‘garbage’ kept forever inside certain houses, but STUFF never lets us off the hook so easily.”

Kari Bentley-Quinn adds “We are presenting a brand new experience for Mission to (dit)Mars and our audience. Mrinalini has created a beautiful piece about loneliness, death, and what our material possessions that we leave behind say or don’t say about our lives”

On the unique nature of the play format, Don Nguyen explains “We wanted to immerse the audience in the world of this play which is why we decided to bring in a live foley artist to add that extra dimension to the night’s performance. It’s a whole different set of challenges than what we’re used to, but we’re up for it.”

Meredith Packer says “STUFF explores the conditions of human baggage, both physical and emotional, and how it affects our lives and those around us even after we are gone.”

This free reading is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The Launch Pad is a free reading series of new plays by Queens playwrights. The mission objective of The Launch Pad is to serve as a testing ground for Queens based playwrights who need to hear their plays out loud. Because Mission to (dit)Mars was co-founded by playwrights and directors, we understand implicitly how to answer those needs. Through this program, the utmost care is taken to foster a safe and productive environment in order to propel the play forward.

Mission to (dit)Mars is thrilled to continue the Launch Pad reading series with THE AMERICAN TRADITION, a new play by Ray Yamanouchi. This free play reading will be performed on Monday, November 6th at 7pm at The Broom Tree Theatre located at 23-35 Broadway in Astoria, NY.

THE AMERICAN TRADITION is a play set in Antebellum America. Eleanor—cross-dressing as a white planter—and her husband, Bill—pretending to be her loyal servant—attempt to escape to the free state of Pennsylvania. In hot pursuit of them is Walsh, a drunk planter and member of the Not All Slavers movement. The play is directed by Axel Avin Jr.

Commenting on the play, co-founder Kari Bentley-Quinn says “With The American Tradition, Ray boldly examines the delicate and painful history of slavery in America while seamlessly connecting it to current political rhetoric. The play is at once horrifying, thought provoking, and laugh out loud absurd.“

Meredith Packer adds “Ray’s ability to make his audience look at the harsh truths of slavery in the 1800’s and it’s legacy of systemic racism today without preaching or pretense is proof of his deft writing ability.”

“The dialogue zips along while the tension sizzles in Ray’s American Tradition, and ridiculously funny moments still hit hard as this play fearlessly takes on the horrendous history of slavery and racism in our country.“ says Laura Pestronk.

This free reading is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The Launch Pad is a free reading series of new plays by Queens playwrights. The mission objective of The Launch Pad is to serve as a testing ground for Queens based playwrights who need to hear their plays out loud. Because Mission to (dit)Mars was co-founded by playwrights and directors, we understand implicitly how to answer those needs. Through this program, the utmost care is taken to foster a safe and productive environment in order to propel the play forward.

This reading is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Mission to (dit)Mars is thrilled to continue the Launch Pad reading series with SAME SAME, a new play by Jason Tseng. This free play reading will be performed on Monday, August 21st at 7pm at The Broom Tree Theatre located at 23-35 Broadway in Astoria, NY.

SAME SAME is a queer Asian farce focusing on Kelvin and Victor’s relationship as their lives are turned upside down when Victor’s mother, June, makes an unannounced visit. Victor isn’t out yet, so they rent an apartment on AirBnB from Tristan in order to stage it as Victor’s apartment. Familial tensions flare as flames, new and old, threaten Kelvin and Victor’s relationship. Meanwhile, June grapples with her own secrets.

Commenting on the play, co-founder Meredith Packer says “It’s so exciting to be kicking off our season a bit early this year with Jason’s play. It’s fun, touching and a great way to bring us all back from the summer.”

Laura Pestronk adds “The amount of action-filled zany fun packed into this play has left me giddily enthralled since Jason first brought a few pages of it in for us to enjoy. Get ready to laugh, gasp, and not even begin to predict what might happen next.”

“Jason takes the structure of a traditional farce and puts a modern, diverse spin on it with hilarious and often touching results. ” said Kari Bentley-Quinn

This free reading is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The Launch Pad is a free reading series of new plays by Queens playwrights. The mission objective of The Launch Pad is to serve as a testing ground for Queens based playwrights who need to hear their plays out loud. Because Mission to (dit)Mars was co-founded by playwrights and directors, we understand implicitly how to answer those needs. Through this program, the utmost care is taken to foster a safe and productive environment in order to propel the play forward.

This reading is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Our mission is to provide Queens-based theater artists with a home for new play development, as well as to serve the residents of the borough by providing free or low-cost theatrical events. We believe strongly in developing a network of artists through cultivating local talent, and by fostering collaborations and relationships through developmental labs, classes, and social events. We believe that Queens is a premier destination for the arts in New York City, and we hope to highlight the rich community of diverse, talented, and underrepresented voices in the borough.